Ahir, Guardian of Malor, Chapter 13: Milton Missing Part 2

Trixie sat in the front seat of a police car fidgeting with her fingers, and the female police officer she was sitting next to smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure your friend is fine, miss. He’s probably just sleeping, or maybe he’s in class. He’s a college student, right?”

Trixie returned a weak smile. “Yes, he goes to the same school as I do, but Milton isn’t the kind of guy that would put class before protecting people.”

The car pulled over to the curb in front of Milton’s apartment. “We’ll find out if he’s okay soon I’m sure.” She opened her door and stepped out of the car and started walking up to the front door of the apartment. Trixie quickly got out of her side of the car and chased the police officer into the apartment.

The police officer walked up the stairs to apartment B3 and knocked on the door. She waited several seconds before knocking again. “Milton Thomson? This is officer Alicia of the Malor police department. I’m here to see if everything is alright.”

They waited for a few more seconds and then Trixie called out, “Milton, it’s Trixie. A portal opened and no one heard from you, we’re a little worried about you! Please open up!” Silence answered her shouts, and Alicia reached for the door knob. It turned and swung open.

The two of them entered Milton’s apartment. Trixie walked into the room and examined Milton’s kitchen. “This looks so normal, nothing like what I expected to find from Milton.” She turned and looked at the wall of Milton’s living room and gasped.

Alicia turned and pulled her gun out of her holster and leveled it at the wall. Her eyes scanned the room looking for signs of danger. In a confused voice she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Trixie pointed at all the pictures of Ahir on the wall. “Nothing, I just find the number of pictures that Milton has of Ahir somewhat unsettling. If you had seen any of the encounters that Milton and Ahir have had you would think that Milton hated Ahir, but it seems like he’s more of a secret admirer. It’s kind of creepy when you think about it.”

Alicia put her gun away. “I agree that it’s kind of creepy and borderline stalkerish, and you may have to have a conversation about this with him later, but that’s not why we’re here right now.” Alicia turned and walked further into the apartment.

Trixie noticed a textbook sitting on the floor by a chair that was turned to face a window. The textbook had a notebook stuffed into it halfway through the book. Trixie picked it up, opened it up and looked at the notebook. “Looks like Milton got interrupted while working on his homework. Maybe he just didn’t make it to the portal in time and doesn’t want to admit it to Ahir?” She looked at the straight back chair and chuckled. “This chair fits Milton perfectly, so stiff and formal.”

Alicia examined the sink with a plate and cup in it. “From what I’m seeing here he doesn’t look like the type of guy that knows how to loosen up and have fun.” She walked out of the kitchen and down the hall and paused. “Milton fights with a bow, right?”

Trixie started walking down the hall toward Alicia. “Yes, that’s right he fights with the…” Trixie’s eyes landed on the Powaga Joursi lying in the hallway and gasped. “That’s the Powaga Joursi! Milton wouldn’t have just left that lying in the middle of the floor, he takes that everywhere! I’m certain that something has happened to him now!”

Alicia pushed the door next to the bow open and gasped. She pulled her gun out of her holster again and darted into the room. Trixie darted in after her and shrieked at the sight of blood covering the carpet in the room. Alicia turned and looked at Trixie and grunted. “You should have waited in the hall until I told you it was safe to come in! If there had been someone in here, you could have been hurt!”

Tears started running down Trixie’s face. “What do you think happened to Milton?”

Alicia sighed. “I don’t know, but we shouldn’t touch anything. I’m going to put a call in and get out CSI unit down here to try and figure that out.” Alicia reached up to activate the radio on her shoulder. “Dispatch, this is officer Alicia Hardy, I have a potential homicide at 301 west Orion street, apartment 3B. Please send the CSI unit as soon as you can.”

A crackled response was projected from the radio. “Acknowledged, Alicia. Keep the crime scene clean until the CSI unit can examine the scene.”

“Acknowledged, dispatch. Alicia out.” Alicia turned back to Trixie. “This is all we can do until CSI gets here. We should go back out to the hall so we don’t disturb the evidence any more than we already have. We want to give them the best chance we can to find whoever did this to your friend.”

Trixie was looking around the room, deep in thought. “I wonder where Tor’jahd is.”

Alicia looked confusedly at Trixie. “Tor’jahd? Who is that?”

“Tor’jahd is the Aureus’Aevum that has been aiding Milton, but it’s impossible to injure or kill and Aureus’Aevum without Ahir’s sword, and I don’t think that Tor’jahd would have let anyone hurt Milton.”

Alicia tilted her head down and closed her eyes for several seconds. She opened her eyes up and fixed them on Trixie. “Maybe this Tor’jahd wasn’t there to be able to stop whoever did this to Milton, and maybe he’s out hunting the person responsible for this down right now.”

Trixie sighed. “Maybe. Is it okay if I look around a bit more to see if I can find anything else?”

Alicia shook her head. “No, this is a crime scene now. We need to leave the apartment. If we mess with anything at all we could end up helping out whoever did this get away.”

Trixie nodded and and left the room. Alicia followed her out of the room, down the hall, and out of the apartment. Once in the hall Trixie placed her back against the wall of the hallway, slid down to the floor, and grabbed her knees. Alicia looked at Trixie with concern. “My understanding was that this Milton didn’t work well with others, and that is the impression that the police officers that have worked with him got as well.”

Trixie nodded her head. “He always hated it when Ahir and I would show up to help him fight against the Aureus’Aevum. He was such a loner, but I don’t understand why. Clearly he is a big fan of Ahir’s if all those pictures of him mean anything.”

Alicia nodded her head. “It sounds to me like he felt he had something to prove, but the real question is who did feel that he had to prove it to?”

Trixie sighed. “I don’t know, even though the three of us lived in the same orphanage as kids, I feel like I know nothing about him.”

Alicia formed her hands into a fist. “We’ll find whoever did this, and if your friend is still alive, we’ll do everything in our power to bring him back safely.” Trixie smiled appreciatively, but said nothing, so they sat together in silence.

Fifteen minutes later three men wearing suits carrying briefcases came up the stairs. “Officer Hardy, John Trition of the CSI. This is the apartment where the incident occurred?”

Alicia held her hand out and shook John’s hand. “Yes, I didn’t notice any signs of a break in, but we found blood all over the carpet in the study. It’s right this way.” Alicia opened the door and walked inside, and Trixie moved to follow her.

Another of the men in suits held out his arm to block her, and Trixie looked confusedly at him. “This is a crime scene, ma’am. No civilians allowed.”

Trixie looked at the man pleadingly. “But he was my friend! I want to help!”

The man’s face softened. “I’m sorry about your friend, miss, but the best way that you can help right now is if you leave this to the professionals. I promise you we’ll do everything we can to catch whoever did this. For the moment, please wait out here.” The other two men walked inside of the apartment.

Trixie sat in the hall alone for ten minutes until Alicia burst through the door. Trixie looked at her expectantly. “What have you discovered?”

“I’ll tell you about it in the car, but we have to go now. I just got the call that another portal has opened!” Trixie looked up at Alicia and then bound up to her feet and ran after Alicia down the stairs.

Thank you for checking out my story, if you liked this and want to see more of it, come back on Friday when I will publish part three, and check out the other stories I’m working on writing, here: Tales of the Imagination, check out my facebook page to connect with me and give me some feedback: Facebook, and follow me on Twitter here: @EJBorchardt. Please like, comment, and tell your friends if you like what you’ve read. Also, if you enjoy reading my stories, and you enjoy drawing, I’m looking for pictures of my characters. If you want to send me your fan art, I promise to include it with some of my posts! I look forward to seeing that art!